Board game



July 28,1959 A, s TA 2,896,950

BOARD GAME 7 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 24. 1956 INVENTOR ARPAD 'Ros'rl James BRUNOT wwwmvwm ATTORNEYS A. ROSTI ET AL July 28, .1959

BOARD GAME Filed Aug. '24. 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ARPA'D Roan JAMES BRUNOT zfi/WQ/S July 28, 1959 A A, R0511 ET'AL 2,896,950

BOARD GAME 4 Filed Aug. 24, 1956 I s Sheets-Sheet :s

LJLQ, 5,4 Bill!!! ARPAD 'Rosrl James anuuo-r United States Patent BOARD GAME Arpad Rosn', Brewster, N.Y., and James Brunot, Newtown, Conan, assignors to Production and Marketing Company, Newtown, Comm, a co-partnership Application August 24, 1%6, Serial No. 606,022

8 Claims. (Cl. 273131) This invention relates to games and more particularly to board games in the pursuit of which playing pieces are moved in turn by the participants step-by-step across the playing board from a base position nearest a given contestant to an oppositely situated goal position, the encountering of one players piece by those of another during play giving rise to certain penalties or rewards according to the circumstances and as covered by the particular rules of play.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved game of this class which by means of the complications introduced by the presence of subdivided playing pieces, affords a greater interest and incentive to play.

In its preferred embodiment, the invention contemplates the provision of a playing surface upon which markings appear dividing the surface preferably into two or four base portions interconnected across the area of the playing surface by a network of paths affording opportunities for movement either forwardly, laterally, or diagonally, or in some cases, backwardly. From the base points (preferably, although not necessarily, four in number) a player moves his pieces progressively along the intersecting paths toward the directly opposite side of the playing surface, where the opponents base points become the goal points of the first named player.

One of the novel features of the invention is the provision of compound playing pieces consisting of two or more separable parts, each of which may be moved independently of the others which comprise any given set of playing pieces, or two or more elemental pieces moved in unison under certain conditions within the rules of play. Each participants particular sets of playing pieces are preferably colored or otherwise marked for identification and differentiation from the playing pieces or elements under the control of the other contestants. It is contemplated that the several parts of the sets of compound playing pieces may be combined with the complementary parts of other sets, regardless of the color or control by a contestant, certain pieces or combinations of pieces thus being susceptible of capture by the introduction or combination therewith of a playing element moved by another contestant.

Certain playing board arrangements ofbase points, goal points, and network ramifications, adapted for the fixed control of play, also constitute important factors in the invention.

Other objects and features of novelty will be apparent from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a practical embodiment of the game apparatus or equipment constituting the essential features of the invention; the equipment, including game board and playing pieces being supported upon a table;

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Figure 2 is a perspective view of a fully assembled compound playing piece used in playing the game;

Figure 3 is an exploded view of the full combination playing piece illustrating the individual component elements;

Figure 4 is a view in perspective of a subcombination playing piece consisting of the innermost or central element and the intermediate element;

Figure 5 is a similar view of another subcombination consisting of the innermost element and the outermost element;

Figure 6 is a similar view showing the subcombination consisting of an intermediate element and an outer element;

Figures 6A, 6B and 6C are perspective views of certain alternative embodiments of the playing pieces capable of being used in connection with the present invention; and

Figures 7-14 inclusive are diagrammatic plan views of the playing board showing the elemental playing pieces and various combinations thereof disposed upon the board, and exemplifying certain aspects of one method of playing a board game involving the novel equipment.

Upon the table 10 in Figure 1 is disposed a board 11 which may be of any suitable or conventional physical construction either in the form of a single flat piece or adapted to be folded in the middle.

Disposed at random upon the board and table are the compound playing pieces 12 which will be described in detail presently, and the small chips or counters indicated generally at 13. The playing surface 15 of the board 11 has imprinted or otherwise imposed thereon a network of markings 16 of a general pattern somewhat resembling a Maltese cross. For a somewhat better impression of the markings, reference is made to Figures 7-l4 of the'dra-wings where the arrangement is shown in plan view rather than in perspective. The markings of the playing surface and suggested methods of play, exemplifying the utility of the equipment comprising the present invention, will be described after the description of the nature of the playing pieces.

A typical example of the compound playing piece 12 is shown in assembled form in Figure 2 of the drawings and in disassembled array in Figure 3. It will be readily seen that the elements composing the compound playing piece are a rather large cylindrical annulus or ring of moderate height designated 20; a somewhat taller annular or tubular element of an external diameter adapted to fit fairly loosely within the ring 20, and designated by the reference numeral 21; and a third, centrally disposed element 22 in the form of a cylindrical peg or post still taller than the element 21 and adapted to fit loosely within the hollow interior of element 21 when the parts are assembled as shown in Figure 2. These elements may be made of any suitable material including metal, plastic, and Wood; and they are preferably painted or otherwise colored so as to identify the pieces belonging to any given contestant, such colors also corresponding to certain colored portions of the playing surface where the pieces of a particular contestant have their base points and goal points.

In Figure 6A of the drawings an alternative form of playing piece is designated 12a and comprises a triangular hollow outer element 20a, a similarly shaped but taller intermediate element 21a and a post of triangular, horizontal section designated 22a. In Figure 6B the playing piece 12b comprises a hollow square outer member 20b, a hollow square member 21b and a square inner post member 22b. A variegated playing piece is shown in Figure 6C of the drawings and comprises an outer member 20c having a square or rectangular outer contour and a triangular inner contour surrounding the opening therein. Within this triangular opening is 3. disposed the intermediate piece 2-10 which has a triangular outer contour and a cylindrical inner contour, within which is disposed the cylindrical post 22c.

Under certain conditions of play, theseverali playing piece elements 21; and 22 'may be movedindividually and-in uncombihedcondition; under. other circumstances they maybe-moved inall possible combinations of two and three elements. Figure 2 has already been described as showing thecomplete assembly of three elements. In Figure-4, elements 2.1 and'22 are shown in combination; in Figure 5, elements-20 and- 22" are combined; and in Figure 6, elements 20'and 21* areused in-combination.

From this point forward, reference maybe had exclusively to Figures 7-14 of the drawings in whichthe initial positions of the various-playing pieces'are'shown and also certainpossible moves ofthe playing pieces suggested.

Inthesefigures, the play is represented-as takinguplace betweenonly two contestants whose pieces have been indicated for purposes of example as being colored White andred: The method of playinvolving-three or four contestants is substantially the same as'that which will be described in connection with two players, and theseother'contestantsmay havetheirpieces colored blue andyellow as'indicated by the letteringon-theplaying board;

Thefour larger spots 25 along each side of theplaying pattern: comprise an outer circle 26 and an inner spot or circle 27 and it is suggested that the outercircle be colored to correspond with the colorof the pieces which are baseduponthese spots at the start of play, and that the inner spot 27 be colored to correspond with the color ofthe setofpieces which start-at-the opposite side of the boardand approach the given set of spots as their goal points. Thus, in Figure 11 of the drawings the outer circles 26- of the spots 25 at the far side of the board would be colored white and theinner circles 27 would be colored red. This would indicate that those four spots constitute the base points for the four-White playing pieces-and the goal points for the fourredplaying piecesr Similarly'at the'near side of theboard the spots 25 will have their outer rings 26 colored red and the inner spots .27 colored whiteand would constitute the base points for the redpieces and the goal'points for thewhite pieces. Inv similar fashion the lateral sets of spots are colored blue and yellow for the same purposes.

With a board providing for four contestants, with twelve playing elements of each of four colors, the pieces are arranged in four sets. In'one preferred embodiment of! the game the piece 22 is-designated a Tower, the piece 21 iscalled a Wall, the piece 20 is referred to as-a Moat, and the complete assembly of three playing pieces or elements. allof one color, is called a Castle.

The particular configuration and arrangement of'the network of paths and base and goal positions of the boardweredeveloped for a'particular utilitarian purpose affecting thenature of play, and it was found that-the provision; of. threepoints-30 in the next row to the base row. and only two points 31' in the third row from the base line is. ofparticular advantage in controlling the game. It will be noted that all of the playing-spots 25,130,31 and 32' form the corners of the small elemental canted squares whose sides 35 and diagonals36 constitute pathsof movement of theplaying'pieces; Viewing the-playing areaas a whole, the several spots 30, 31 and; 3 2 may: be said tobe quincunxially arranged.

Initially, in the case of two contestants,- as illustrated in=Figure 7, the respective sets of playing pieces designated: Castles arelined up on the four base points at opposite sides-of the playing surface; in this case Red has-the near base; points and White the opposite,v or remote base points.- The aim of course is. for each contestant to move his playingelements, across the board toward his goal points and reassemble them at such points, the contestant first to do so being the winner.

tured.

Scoring of the game is accomplished by the exchange of the chips 13. Chips are won by assembling complete Castles on a contestants goal points and also whenever pieces of opposing colors are captured.

A single move (moves being taken in turn by the contestants) is made by selecting any one elemental playing piece whether a Tower, a Moat, or a Wall and moving it along one of the paths 35 or 36 to the next point 30, 31, or 32, the. moves being made, forwardly, sideways, or diagonally, but preferably not backwardly.

Obviously, an elemental piece cannot be moved to a point already occupied by a similar piece, but it may be movedto a point occupied by'oneor more elements of difierent character, independently of the color thereof, and when this occurs, the pieces to which the moving piece is applied are considered to be captured.

Under the preferred method of play, for each piece which-is capturedby themovement of: a" playing piece, the contestant (during. the same turn): moves; the set of pieces one additional point. A captured piece of a different color than the moving piece remains, under the controlof the-capturing playeronly during the capturing move. In subsequentturnsit may be moved by its own player or captured again'by an opponent. Preferably, when. a. capturing move is played, the player must continue and complete the moves called for upon capture of one-ormore pieces, andthe player cannot legally capture his own or opposing pieces if the-position of other pieces upon adjacent points-blocks completion of the additional movesin. accordance with theserules. The only exception to this requirement might be when the capturing piece .reachesone of its goal points;

Other. special rulesgoverning play, which may be adopted, would providethat ifanypiece reaches one of its owngoal. points before completing a capturing move, the player may-elect to continue the move sideways to another goal point or toterminate the move at the first goal point touched. Also, that'a piece which. has come to rest on one of its own goal points may not be moved or' captured, which would not prevent an opposing player from moving'pieces ofdiflt'erentcharacter to the same point; but such a move does not constitute capture nor earn additional movesor the transfer of chips. Additionally, ifall four of the players goal points are completely filled with-a-combination of his own and-hisopponentspieces, he; may-require his opponent to move apiece outbefore-that-opponent makes any other move, and this may apply both to pieces that the opponent lefit attheir base pointsand'to pieces thatwere carriedbaclc by capture;

Inscoring theplay, it may be stipulated that when a playercaptures an opposing piece he receives a given number of chips from the owner of each piece cap- Similarly, it may be a rule that whenever a player completes a Castle on one of his own goal points he should receive from each other player a certain number of chips for his first Castle, a, further number for his second Castle and so on. Of course, other rewards and penalties may be established in adopting rules, for the playing of the game.

One specific example of certainsuccessive plays will now be described in connection with Figures 7-14" of the drawings.

In Figure 7 there are illustrated initial. moves. by White and Red, Red having moved his Tower one space diagonally from-theright-hand Castle, and White; having movedhis Moat one space from the Castle upon-hisright hand.

In Figure 8 of the drawings there isillirstrated how White hasmade a second move by moving theWall-one space-directly. forwardly: from his Castle which is next to;.the right-hand end of his :base line. However, Red has captured his. right-hand Tower with his Wall from the same Castle, and has moved forward one space as a result of that single capture.

In Figure 9 there is illustrated a situation involving compound captures. The Red Moat from the next to the right-hand Castle has captured the Tower and Wall combination in front of it and as a reward has gained two moves forwardly for the reassembled Castle. As Whites next move, the Tower from his right-hand piece has captured the Moat in the next row and moved forward one space, whereupon the Wall in the third row has been captured and a single rewarding move earned which brings Whites reassembled Castle to the same transverse line as Reds Oastle;

Still further supposing additional play, by reference to Figure 10, it will be seen that Whites right-hand Wall has captured his Tower and Moat combination to the left of the right-hand position and being a double capture, the assembled pieces have been moved two spaces, first diagonally and then forwardly to the position indicated in Figure 10. Reds next move, as shown in Figure 10, he has used his right-hand Moat to capture the next adjacent Tower and Wall combination and has moved the assembled Castle two spaces forwardly.

Breaking the continuity of play exemplified by Figures 7-10, it will be assumed that the players have reached the stage indicated at Figure 11 and Red, in order to invite engagement, has moved the Tower from one of his Castles one space to the left to create an opening for at capturing move by White. In Figure 12 White has responded by moving the Tower from one of his centrally disposed Castles to capture the Wall and Moat from which Red has just removed the Tower, and the combined variegated Castle has moved forward two spaces to the row next to the goal row for White. At the same time, of course, White collects the designated number of chips from Red.

Further, considering Figure 13 of the drawings, it will be seen that Red has moved a Tower to its goal by counter-attacking the Wall and Moat combination which had been left in a vulnerable position by White. He then regains the chips from White.

In a further move as shown in Figure 14, White, in moving away from capture, has moved one of his walls from its base point after it had been carried back there by Reds Tower.

Play is, of course, continued until one of the contestants has reassembled his Castles, all of his own color, at the goal points opposite his base or starting line.

It is understood that various changes and alterations may be made in the embodiment illustrated and described herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the subjoined claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Movable playing pieces for use in a game wherein such pieces are moved progressively across the playing surface of a game board from a startring position to a goal position, said pieces each comprising a series of coaxial, loosely nested component elements, each inner element being enclosed by the next outward one, the elements being easily separable by the withdrawal of any selected one of them in an axial direction with respect to the others, whereby they may be readily removed to individually progress across the playing board surface or the assembled playing pieces moved across the surface as a unit, each component element of a playing piece having unobstructed free passage axially of the others in either axial direction, and each element when in playing position resting independently on its own bottom upon the playing surface.

2. The playing pieces as set forth in claim 1 in which each playing piece comprises an outer enclosing element of relatively inconsiderable height, an intermediate element of somewhat greater height enclosed within said first named element, and an inner element of still greater height enclosed within said second named element.

3. The play-ing pieces as set forth in claim 2 in which the first and second named elements are annular and the third named element is a cylinder, whereby the whole compoundplaying piece simulates a castle, the central cylinder corresponding to a tower, the intermediate annular element of lesser height corresponding to a wall, and the outer and lowermost element corresponding to a moat.

4. The playing pieces as set forth in claim 2 in which each of the three elements has a polygonal outer contour in plan view.

5. The playing pieces as set forth in claim 2 in which the outer contour of the first named or outer element in plan is polygonal with a given number of sides, the inner contour of the outer element and the outer contour of the intermediate element are polygonal and of a different number of sides than that of the first mentioned contours, and the inner contour of the intermediate element and the contour of the last named or inner element are cylindrical.

6. A board game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game board having an imperforate playing surface upon Which is disposed a network of spots representing positions to be occupied by certain playing pieces and one or more separable parts thereof during the progress thereof across the board, said spots on the major central portion of the board being quincunxially arranged and each connected to adjacent spots by rectilinear and diagonal lines indicative of the permissible paths of movement from position to position, certain of said spots at one side of the board constituting base positions from which the pieces of one player advance at the outset of the game, similar spots at the opposite side of the board constituting base positions for the playing pieces of an opponent, the base positions for the pieces of a given player also constituting goal positions for the pieces of the opposite opponent; a plurality of compound playing pieces, each of said compound pieces comprising a plurality of component playing elements loosely combined with and easily separable from the other components of such playing piece, each component element of a playing piece having unobstructed free passage axially of the others in either axial direction and each element when in playing position resting independently on its own bottom upon the playing surface, individually movable from position to position either diagonally or rcctilinearly on the board, and also combinable with other component elements during play, each element of a given piece being of a different structural configuration, whereby only unlike pieces may be combined at any position.

7. A board game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game board having an imperforate playing surface of the shape of a Maltese cross upon which is disposed a network of spots representing positions to be occupied by certain playing pieces and one or more separable parts thereof during the progress thereof across the board, said spots on the major central portion of the board being quincunxially arranged and each connected to adjacent spots by rectilinear and diagonal lines indicative of the permissible paths of movement from position to position, a predetermined number of spots comprising the marginal rows at opposite sides of the board constituting base positions from which the pieces of one player advance at the outset of the game, a second row of spots immediately inward of each of said marginal rows, which spots of the second named row are fewer in number than those in the marginal base row to provide a constricted portion of the playing network between the base row and the general area of the central playing surface, the base positions for the pieces of a given player also constituting goal positions for the pieces of the opposite opponent; a plurality of compound playing pieces, each of said compound pieces comprising a plurality of coaxially loosely nested component playing eleeesa 7 m nt a h inn lemen e n senq qs by th next outward .one, e element bein as l s pa b e o the Qther w e nt lofsu hp ay n p c ind yidval y movable from position to position either diagonally or l'ectilinearly on the board, and also cornhinable with other p en e ement u in h a ea h em Of a en pi c v e ng Q ad je ten ru ural qqfil ation, whereby only unlike pieces may be combined at any position, each component element of a playing p iece hav- 111g unobs ru ted f e Passa a ial y "9 9 1. .iP either axial direction and each element when in playing p n restin ndependent n it QWP rbo qm 1 9 h p yi s w a e- 8. The board game apparatus as set forth claim 7 in which a third lfOW ,of spots, next inwardly fl om saigl second named row, has still fewer spots than the second row; and constitutes the .shortestrow of all and the nar- 8 rgygest restriction of movement .of the several elements of 1 2 Pla in nee? ttq ttfl iis F PF 3 589 f w- References Cited in the .file of this patent W 1 i? E$ TEN 5 1555 jql fllyf l ,1 1897 6.19; Wrig t I e i 9, 1,525,95 Ma is F b 10, 19.25 4 411%? ;S; i9knq y 14, 9 wgssga n and June 23; 193.6 2,219,546 Petersen Oct. 29, 19,40 2,252,613 Beary Ai1gf'12, 1941 2 23. G JEQQS M331 1942 2,620,192 lg Ionsley D60. 2, 1952 2,755, 95; Wales Ii11y24, 1956 2,757,933 A g/7, 195 2 4 6}; Qli l "#1 1,957 

